Numerous studies have shown that spirituality can help improve quality of life for people with chronic diseases like cancer. This new study shows that spirituality can also have a positive impact on quality of life for those with heart failure.

“Patients who have heart failure experience a poorer quality of life compared to their peers, with high levels of depression, anxiety and spiritual distress,” said lead author Rachel Tobin, MD, of Duke University Hospital. “Contributing to diminished quality of life is the fact that heart failure, unlike many other chronic diseases, is very unpredictable and can lead to hopelessness, isolation and altered self-image.”

According to the researchers, spirituality is hard to define, but they reference several definitions that describe spirituality as how individuals find meaning and purpose in life, which can be separate from religious beliefs.

For instance, the US Institute of Medicine defines spirituality as “the needs and expectations which humans have to find meaning, purpose and value in their life. Such needs can be specifically religious, but even people who have no religious faith or are not members of an organized religion have belief systems that give their lives meaning and purpose.”

The researchers reviewed 47 articles and found several in which individuals with heart failure experienced better quality of life, as well as less depression, anxiety and searching for meaning with different psychosocial and palliative care interventions compared with usual care. One study included a spiritual history tool to gather information on spirituality.

“The literature suggests not only can spirituality improve quality of life for the patient, it can help support caregivers and potentially help heart failure patients from needing to be readmitted to the hospital,” Tobin said. “What we have suggested and are now doing is developing a spirituality screening tool, similar to ones used to screen for depression. This can be used to identify heart failure patients in palliative care who are at risk for spiritual distress.”

To read the abstract of the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association: Heart Failure, click here.

 

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